The present invention relates generally to aeronautical objects and toys such as airfoils and kites, more specifically to kites that are self-erecting, expanding into a flying configuration when desired collapsible, telescoping and folding for transporting and storage when not in use.
My invention is described in my provisional patent application entitled Collapsible Cylindrical Kite, filed on Jan. 15, 1999 with the U.S. Patent Office, No. 60/116,022. This is a continuation in part of that provisional application for the purposes of further describing several species of my invention.
Various aeronautic objects, devices and aircraft are known in the prior art to feature generally flat and curved surfaces, such as free flyers, gliders and airplanes or line controlled crafts such as kites. These aeronautic devices take advantage of differential pressures caused by air flow patterns around curved and flat surfaces to create a force called lift, balanced by a component called drag.
Kites are generally line held craft that are oriented into an airflow by their designs and by one or more control lines strategically attached to the kite. When the kite is exposed to the air flow such as wind and given the right conditions the kite will leave the ground tethered to the control line or lines.
A kite must be strong and light to be able to respond to the forces created by the wind but have extended surfaces to provide needed lift to leave the ground. These factors place a limitation upon the design of a kite since a kite with outstretched flying surfaces sufficient to provide the needed lift is not easily transported or stored. Therefore, before a kite is ready to fly it is assembled, that is support means are joined together with extended flying surfaces and locked into place then one or more control lines and perhaps a tail (depending on the kite design and stability) are attached to the kite before use. After use, the kites is disassembled, the extended flying surfaces and support means are unlocked and packed to facilitate transport and storage.
Some kite designs avoid the need to assemble for use and disassemble to facilitate transport and storage, such as:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,174, issued to Knight et al., which discloses a billowing rotary kite with a symmetrical wind receiving surface supported by a collapsible frame having a leading edge of radially oriented support vanes affixed to a hub locked to an axial rod in the center of the kite and to an annular member along the opening. The Knight kite is collapsed by unlocking the hub from the axial rod and sliding it with the support vanes along the axial rod to compact the kite for storage and transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,224, issued to R. L. Williamson, which discloses a box kite construction comprising telescoping components of two sets of radially oriented support members fixed to umbrella-type hinge connection collars fixed to a center pole. The connection collars are locked to the center pole in an open configuration to fly the kite, then unlocked from the center pole to allow the kite to collapse for storage and transportation.
While these and other kites have the advantage of collapsing from an flying configuration into a more compact configuration for storage and transportation they are very different from a truly self-erecting collapsible kite.